


some marks of love

by loonyBibliophile



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post 2.22, Tattoos, Toni and Betty are BFFs, but nothing very specific, chosen family, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 09:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14952377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loonyBibliophile/pseuds/loonyBibliophile
Summary: Toni was wiping down the fresh snake on Betty’s shoulder with antibiotic salve.“Would you do something else for me?” The words pop unbidden from Betty’s throat. Toni raises an eyebrow.





	some marks of love

Betty chose her shoulder. It was the standard spot, and for a reason. Easy enough to hide, easy enough to show off. It didn’t hurt as bad as she thought it might. Really, it was kind of… exhilarating. Maybe that’s why she said it, when Toni was wiping down the fresh snake on Betty’s shoulder with antibiotic salve. 

“Would you do something else for me?” The words pop unbidden from Betty’s throat. Toni raises an eyebrow. 

“I’m not saying no, but what?” Toni asks, taping a square of plastic wrap over Betty’s still bleeding tattoo. 

“A crown. On my ribs, left side. Just under the bottom of my bra.” 

It’s not actually coming out of nowhere, even if it seems like it. Betty’s been watching the way Jughead scribbles that crown everywhere. It’s like his way of trying to make a life, an identity. A home. She hasn’t been thinking about getting it because she thinks she belongs to him, or something. It’s not a brand. The world has left so many marks on her, literally and figuratively, and she wants to pick this one. And she wants it to be him. But it can’t be a name, it can’t be anything like that. Betty isn’t stupid, just sentimental. 

Toni looks aghast regardless. 

“I don’t know Betty. I’m not all that superstitious, but that shit is supposed to be cursed. Look at our lives, do you really wanna tempt fate?”

“Our lives are exactly why I want to do this, Toni. Look at what the world has done to me, to us. All of us.” she holds her hands out, palms up, and let’s Toni sees the crescent moons scarred into her skin. “Riverdale has covered us in cuts and scars and bruises, and they’re all bad memories. I want a mark I picked. And I want it to be about love. Even when we were fighting or split up, the fact that Jug was out there, and cared about me, even if we weren’t speaking? That was… everything to me.” Betty tucks her hands between her thighs, nervous. She likes Toni, they’re friends, but it’s not like Toni knows intimate details of her life. Toni smiles, and her eyes are soft. She nods. 

“Okay, let’s do this. Take your top off.” 

Betty snorts, and Toni grins. It’s a moment Betty will look back on later and treasure. 

So Betty pulls her shirt over her shoulders and braces herself as Toni inks her skin for the second time that day. The crown is small, and it’s just an outline, so it doesn’t take nearly as long, but the buzzing pain against Betty’s ribs is definitely harder to stomach. Toni walks her to the mirror when she’s finished, and Betty turns from side to side, looking from one mark to the other, smiling. The black ink stands out on her pale skin, muddied by the red from the freshness of the wounds. The serpentine S on her shoulder, and the small crown below the black lace of her bra. Symbols of a family, and a love, she chose. She chose this life, these people. She chose Jughead. This is not the mess she was born into. Not her serial killer father, not her controlling mother, not her probable member of a cult sister. Her place in the Serpents and her relationship with Jughead are things she walked into, with both eyes open, and after everything that happens, she wants those forever. She wants the physical reminder in her skin. 

A reminder that she chose this life, and that it chose her back. 

“Looks good, Cooper.” Toni says, that same soft smile on her face. 

“Thanks, Topaz.” Betty says back, her eyes full of gratitude. Before she can question it, she wraps the other girl in a tight hug. After a moment of confusion, Toni returns the gesture. 

“Welcome to the family.” Toni’s eyes are bright, and Betty can’t help but hug her again. 

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.” she says, earnestly, her eyes shining with tears. Toni shoves her shoulder playfully. 

“Go home, Cooper. Go show Jones. He’s gonna die.” 

With another smile and a nod, Betty leaves Toni’s trailer. She makes her way across Sunnyside, heading back to the Jones trailer, just as the sun is beginning to set on Riverdale. She’s been spending most of her days and nights here, instead of home. Her mother hasn’t said anything. Neither of them really has. It’s like they don’t know where to take their relationship now that Hal had dropped a nuclear bomb, so for now they’re both just looking the other way. So instead, Betty spends her nights with Jughead. It’s nice. Domestic. Even if they do both feel like they’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

She smiles as she opens the door, and Jughead is sprawled across the couch with his laptop, writing. He looks up when she swings the door open, and he grins. 

“How’d it go?” he puts his computer aside and moves to stand, but Betty shakes her head. She turns, so he can see her shoulder, still wrapped up. His eyes light up when he sees the snake on her shoulder. It mirrors his. 

“You’re one of us now, Betts. No going back.” he smirks, and Betty walks towards him, playing with the buttons on her top. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Juggie.” she says softly, beginning to undo the buttons. Jughead watches her, intrigued, until her top falls to the floor. His jaw follows. 

“Betty…” he says, his eyes glued on the small crown tattoo.  
“Oh no, you hate it.” Betty’s face falls immediately and she collapses onto the sofa beside him. Jughead shakes his head violently. 

“No, no, Betts, it’s not that I—” he frowns, eyes still focused on the tattoo. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and clasps her shoulder with his hand. “I love it, Betty. I love you. But we’re… we’re kids. We could end up breaking up, like for real, and you would still have that.” 

“I know.” she says. “I don’t mind.”

“Really?” Jughead wrinkles his nose. 

“I love you. And even if we fall apart someday, a part of me is always going to love you. These moments between us will always be important, and worth remembering. It deserves, you deserve, this place in my heart. And on my skin.” she smiles at him, and climbs into his lap, draping her arms around his neck. “But I’m not planning on us breaking up any time soon.” 

Jughead beams, and kisses her. 

Once the tattoo heals, now that Jughead knows how Betty feels about it, Jughead can’t stop touching it. When they’re in bed, and he kisses his way from her neck to her hips, he lingers over the crown, pressing his lips over it. When they’re sleeping, side by side, Jughead’s arms wrapped around Betty’s waist, he rubs it with his thumb, feeling the slightest texture of the ink under her skin. His heart catches in his throat every time he lays eyes on it, and he thinks of what it means. What it means that Betty Cooper loves him enough to ink a reminder of him into her skin, forever. He breaks into his emergency petty cash fund, and gives Toni enough money to treat Cheryl to one helluva dinner date in thanks. 

Betty looks at the tattoo every chance she gets. When she’s getting in or out of the shower, when she’s changing, when she’s sitting in her bra, doing her hair or makeup. It makes her feel warm. It makes her feel at home. 

When she finally posts a photo of it, she expects all hell to break loose. Mostly from her mother, and possibly Archie. it just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing he would approve of. But Betty doesn’t care. Not anymore. 

She chose this life, this love. And it chose her back.  
Nothing matters more than that.

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote a little drabble about this on tumblr and just had to turn it into a full length fic.  
> and an instagram edit: http://roxy1alonde.tumblr.com/post/174965702396/some-marks-of-love-11-so-i-made-this-post-and  
> title is... a shakespeare quote, haha. 
> 
> hope you all enjoyed!


End file.
